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Last week, PhD candidates working in the Discovery and Data Science Domains of the new research institute gathered in Tiel for their PhD retreat. Almost 200 attendees enjoyed scientific discussions, an interactive workshop and of course a vibrant party!
This year’s keynote lecture was provided by prof. dr. Willem Mulder, professor of Precision Medicine at both Eindhoven University of Technology and Radboudumc and co-founder of Trained Therapeutix Discovery. He gave an inspiring talk about the opportunities and challenges in academic research and how he is trying to have an impact by starting up his own company. Moreover, the workshop organized by Hakuna Matata provided PhD candidates with tips and tricks for pitching their research projects to various audiences.
The winners of the best oral presentation awards were Lea Weiss (“Antigen-presenting immunofilaments to stimulate CD8+ T cells in vivo”) and Wouter van Megen (“Inhibition of pannexin-1 does not restore electrolyte balance in Pkd1-/- mice”), while the awards for best poster presentation went to Marcos Vidal Manrique (“Improving stem cell-derived derived natural killer cell functionality against ovarian carcinoma with IL-15 transpresentation”) and Femke van Hout (“PRO-seq reveals the Aedes aegypti transcriptional response and regulation thereof to immune challenges”).
The theme of the retreat’s party was “Go wild or go home”; participants dressed up as their spirit animal according to an online personality test. The prestigious award for best outfit went to Emre Dilmen, whose original portrayal of a falcon greatly impressed the jury.
Thanks to all participants for making the first PhD retreat of the new institute a great success! A second retreat will be organized later this year (November 2 and 3) for the Clinical Science and Health Science domains, more information will follow soon.
